Students in Associate Professor Michal Kopera’s MATH 365 course had a unique opportunity this semester. They applied the mathematical and computational skills learned in the course to create visual representations of the famous three-body problem, a problem in astronomy that involves calculating the orbits of three bodies.
Two bodies in space form stable orbits around their shared center of mass, such as in a binary star system. However, introducing a third body (e.g., a third star) throws the orbits into chaos and introduces computational and modeling problems – problems that Kopera’s students grappled with in the course.
The work combined numerical analysis and artistic creativity, culminating in the Keith and Catherine Stein Luminary exhibit, an interactive digital media space in the Center for Visual Arts. Students shared their models, demonstrating both the analytic challenge and aesthetic beauty of the three-body problem. The event celebrated student work and gave community members a chance to learn something new about mathematics, physics and astronomy.
Read more about the exhibit on Kopera’s GitHub page.